Slicing the Pie: Explaining the Distribution of Funds at NEH

In response to the Academy’s recent report, The State of the Humanities: Funding 2014, Humanities Indicators
staff received a number of questions about the distribution of funding to particular
activities at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Some of the program
monies distributed by the NEH are allocated according to a legislatively mandated
formula, and the remainder is distributed at the discretion of the agency within
its programmatic divisions, each of which receives a set appropriation from Congress.

We invited two authorities on the issue—Stephen Kidd, Director of the National Humanities
Alliance, and Esther Mackintosh, President of the Federation of State Humanities
Councils—to explain how and why the slices of the pie have their current form.

For additional details on the items included under each category, see the related
topic in the Humanities Indicators.

October 21, 2014

The Interdependent Building Blocks of the Humanities

posted by Stephen Kidd

This chart shows the NEH divisions that support the interdependent building blocks
of the humanities: preservation and access; research; teaching; and programming.
The NEH supports these building blocks by providing funds that organizations can
leverage to raise
More...

October 21, 2014

The Interdependent Building Blocks of the Humanities

posted by Stephen Kidd

This chart shows the NEH divisions that support the interdependent building blocks
of the humanities: preservation and access; research; teaching; and programming.
The NEH supports these building blocks by providing funds that organizations can
leverage to raise additional money (challenge grants); through competitive, peer-reviewed
grants to individuals and organizations (digital humanities, education, public programs,
research, and preservation and access); and through support of the state humanities
councils, which foster humanities work on the state and local levels.

Given the important work that each piece of the pie represents, the most critical
aspect of the chart is the size of the pie itself since this determines the amount
of work the NEH is able to support. Unfortunately, in constant dollars, the pie
is currently smaller than it has been at any time since 1971.

A brief history of the NEH’s funding provides some context. Over
the first fifteen years of the Endowment’s existence, its funding increased steadily
from a starting point of approximately $6 million in 1966 to $151 million in 1981.
As the NEH’s appropriation increased during its early years, many of the current
divisions were defined and new programs were added. Most notably, in 1971 the Federal/State
partnership, which funds the state humanities councils, joined existing programs
in research, fellowships, and teaching. As the NEH’s overall funding grew, the amount
of funding devoted to each of its programs also grew.

This changed in 1982 when the NEH’s budget was cut significantly from $151 million
to $131 million. The Endowment gradually regained its funding with incremental increases
during most of the 1980s and with significant increases in 1989 and 1991, when it
finally surpassed its 1981 funding level.

In 1996, the Endowment’s funding was cut again, this time more drastically: from
$172 million to $110 million. Its funding level gradually increased to a post-1996
high of $165 million in 2010, after which it endured substantial cuts to its current
level of $146 million. When this history is considered in constant dollars, however,
we see that despite increases in nominal dollars, the NEH has never actually recovered
from either of its two major cuts because subsequent increases have barely kept
up with the rate of inflation. This has significantly eroded the NEH's capacity
to support all of its programs.

Critically, the conditions that led to these cuts still exist: a lack of broad based
and deep support in Congress and from the general public.

The state humanities councils, which by the nature of their work have close ties
to their communities, have been especially effective at generating support from
the public and from elected officials. This support has been critical to preserving
the Endowment throughout these budget battles as opponents of the agency have tried
to eliminate its budget completely.

As the NEH continues to face challenges to its funding, it is imperative that we
take the importance of the council’s community-oriented work to heart. In order
to preserve and expand the NEH’s funding, we must demonstrate the ways in which
all of the work that the NEH supports is relevant to communities around the country.
Only then will we be able to foster a broader and deeper base of support, leading
to increased political support for a more robust Endowment.

Stephen Kidd, Director of the National Humanities Alliance

October 21, 2014

A Multitude of Benefits from Federal/State Partnership Program

posted by Esther Mackintosh

The interdependent and complementary programs that make up the NEH funding pie are
vital to carrying out the goal of strengthening the nation by supporting humanities
research and learning. But each wedge of that pie also has its own discrete value.
The funding
More...

October 21, 2014

A Multitude of Benefits from Federal/State Partnership Program

posted by Esther Mackintosh

The interdependent and complementary programs that make up the NEH funding pie are
vital to carrying out the goal of strengthening the nation by supporting humanities
research and learning. But each wedge of that pie also has its own discrete value.
The funding allocated to the state humanities councils, represented in the Federal/State
Partnership wedge of the pie, yields a multitude of benefits. Two warrant particular
note.

The first is the broadened awareness of the humanities that involvement in council
programs makes possible. Council programs engage millions of people each year. The
reach extends from communities of a few hundred people in remote areas to densely
populated and often hard-to-reach urban neighborhoods. The programs themselves are
also wide-ranging, involving direct experience of humanities texts (under the guidance
of a scholar/facilitator), content-based professional development for teachers,
study of history through exhibits and related discussions, public lectures by humanities
scholars, and community discussions of contemporary issues that use humanities scholars
and methods. Through these and many other formats employed in council programs,
Americans come to experience and appreciate the ways the humanities can help them
make sense of their own lives, address the issues that challenge their communities,
and navigate the interconnected world we live in.

In practical terms, the reach of these programs also increases support for the humanities
among funders, including Congress. Members of Congress like nothing better than
programs that directly affect their constituents, which humanities council programs
do in concrete and visible ways. At a recent public witness hearing in the House,
a prominent Republican subcommittee member told a witness, “I am supportive of your
programs, but I need to hear from my constituents that they want these programs
to continue.” At critical moments in the history of the NEH, humanities advocates
have been able to ward off threats to the agency from hard-core budget-cutters by
pointing to programs in their backyards that are valued by the citizens of their
districts and by encouraging those citizens to tell their members of Congress why
these programs matter.

Second, the Federal/State Partnership funds, like all NEH funds, are multiplied
at the local level through matching and leveraging. What distinguishes council funding,
however, is that it reaches communities in every corner of every state, thereby
ensuring nationwide investment in the humanities. The funds leverage income for
the humanities from state governments and other sources, and they attract in-kind
contributions that enable expanding the activities at low cost. A recent survey
of council income by the Federation of State Humanities Councils revealed that collectively
councils receive approximately half their funds from the Federal/State Partnership
(though the percentage varies significantly from state to state), which means they
double the NEH funding to carry out humanities programs. This does not take into
account the many contributions to programs that do not show up as income to the
councils, nor the many spinoff activities funded by other entities but made possible
by the initial federal investment.

Councils have been multiplying this investment while carrying out the public purposes
of the humanities for four decades. Their work complements and extends the important
creation of new knowledge made possible by NEH funding for research, and it increases
awareness among the public of the value of humanities in their day-to-day lives.

Esther Mackintosh, President of the Federation of State Humanities Councils

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